Lincoln Riley Slams Own Team in Alabama Comment

Big 10 Media Days are ongoing, and on Wednesday, USC head coach Lincoln Riley had some comments about scheduling across college football.

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In a comment when asked about scheduling games (namely, Notre Dame - a rival of USC) Lincoln Riley took an underhanded shot at Nick Saban and Alabama.

"Bama was ahead of the curve for years... They didn’t schedule for their fans. They scheduled to win championships.”

Riley's comments implied Alabama scheduled easier opponents during the non-conference portion of the regular season schedule to save the team's health and game plan.

Lincoln Riley is the head coach of the USC Trojans, who played against Alabama to open the 2016 season. USC was hyped for the game and came out of the tunnel with an interesting tactic.

USC lost by 44 points in the matchup. The Trojans were ranked in the top 20 to begin the season.

Alabama also had other notable non-conference games under Nick Saban's tenure.

2007: Florida State v. Alabama (Neutral) - Alabama L
2008: (24) Alabama v. (9) Clemson (Neutral) - Alabama W
2009: (5) Alabama v. (7) Virginia Tech (Neutral) - Alabama W
2010: (1) Alabama v. (9) Penn State (Home) - Alabama W
2011: (3) Alabama @ (23) Penn State - Alabama W
2012: (2) Alabama v. (8) Michigan (Neutral) - Alabama W
2015: (3) Alabama v. (20) Wisconsin (Neutral) - Alabama W
2016: (2) Alabama v. (20) USC (Neutral) - Alabama W
2017: (1) Alabama v. (3) Florida State (Neutral) - Alabama W
2021: (1) Alabama v. (14) Miami (Neutral) - Alabama W

In total, Alabama played nine ranked non-conference opponents in the regular season across Nick Saban's tenure, and the Crimson Tide went 9-0.

Lincoln Riley coached against Alabama and Nick Saban once, and he lost 45-34.

Wyatt Fulton is the TIde 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.